The present invention pertains to means for securing or retaining a gas separating device to a suitable frame, and more particularly to a unit filter cell clamping device having a tray for supporting a unit filter cell and forcing it against a suitable frame to hold the unit filter cell in the gas flow stream.
Various unit filter cell retaining latch assemblies or unit filter cell clamping devices are known.
Exemplary of these prior art devices are: U.S. Pat. No. 3,393,498 issued on July 23, 1968 to D. W. Schoen; U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,503 issued on July 20, 1971 to Paul D. Andrews; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,984 issued on June 18, 1974 to Gerhard Max Neumann.
A unit filter cell clamping device used to clamp a unit filter cell against a frame structure should apply a substantially uniform clamping force against the unit filter cell. A non-uniform clamping force applied to the unit filter cell will prevent the unit filter cell from seating squarely against the frame structure which could result in a path for gas to by-pass the filter. A non-uniform clamping force could also exert a strain on the unit filter cell which could cause it to fracture or warp.
Further, a unit filter cell clamping device should be compact in construction and capable of being actuated with minimum movement to conserve space and, therefore, cost.
In addition, the unit filter cell clamping device should be capable of being actuated with a minimum of effort and in a minimum amount of time.